The recovery of a laptop computer in Iraq by U.S. forces in February has helped in the capture of several associates of the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Pentagon officials said yesterday.

The laptop was found in a vehicle used by al-Zarqawi as he fled to avoid capture by U.S. troops near Ramadi on Feb. 20, the officials said.

ABC News, which disclosed the existence of the laptop this week, reported that U.S. officials believed they had nearly caught al-Zarqawi there after receiving a tip.

Using leads found on the computer, troops have taken into custody several suspected associates of al-Zarqawi in the past two months and have raided at least one location in Iraq where bomb-making materials were found, a Defense Department official said.

A senior Pentagon official said, "It's been very valuable information."

Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed at a Pentagon briefing with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld yesterday that the United States believes it nearly captured al-Zarqawi in the raid. "We were close," Myers said.

He and Rumsfeld said the military has recently received better intelligence about al-Zarqawi, but neither would say whether it was coming from the laptop. "I think, in general, the intelligence is getting better. Having said that, we still don't have Zarqawi and other leaders that we are looking for as well," Myers said in Washington.

Last year, U.S. homeland security officials raised the terror alert level after finding detailed surveillance reports on financial institutions in New York, New Jersey and Washington on a computer recovered in Pakistan.

Al-Zarqawi's organization, al-Qaeda in Iraq, has claimed responsibility for bombings, beheadings and ambushes that have killed hundreds across Iraq.

Pentagon officials said al-Zarqawi appeared to have eluded U.S. troops positioned around Ramadi by sending a car carrying associates ahead of the truck he was in. When troops stopped the car, the trailing truck turned around and fled. When U.S. soldiers eventually caught up with the vehicle, al-Zarqawi was gone, ABC News reported, in an account confirmed by several Defense Department officials.

Pentagon officials said yesterday that the laptop and more than $100,000 were found in the truck.

In Baghdad yesterday, Iraqi political leaders extended their talks on a new government for another day, saying they expected to submit a Cabinet to the National Assembly today.

The list of 32 Cabinet members is nearly complete, Shiite officials said, with only a few last-minute disagreements.

In one case, some members of the Shiite alliance that is the dominant partner in the new government objected to a Sunni Arab nominee to run the Electricity Ministry because he is a former member of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, one Shiite official said.

But Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the new prime minister, expects to submit a Cabinet to President Jalal Talabani and the National Assembly today even if a few gaps remain, said Ali al-Adeeb, an adviser to al-Jaafari. After weeks of divisive negotiations, al-Jaafari is under pressure to form the new government as soon as possible.

Shiite and Kurdish leaders have agreed to grant six ministries to Sunni Arabs, who largely boycotted the January elections, in an effort to create a national unity government. Seventeen ministries have been allotted to Shiites, eight to Kurds and one to a Christian.

Many Shiites have urged that former Baathists be excluded. "Many in the Shiite and Kurdish alliance have fears, because they suffered oppression in the past," said Adel al-Amari, a Shiite legislator.